


Company

by Flightless_Bird



Series: Stitches [9]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: A little fluffy, BFFs, Dana is still mayor, Discrimination, Holidays, Other, Post-Strex, Post-Strex Kevin, Tension, Who Knows?, christmas technically, cooking party, i dont???, i posted this late if you haven’t noticed, idk night vale, kevin deserves better, kevin is a small and scared little bean, possible crushes?, radioactive ugly sweaters, rehabilitated desert bluffs, shy!kevin, slightly inhuman dana, steve is a good host, stitches au, what are these tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 04:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17276753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flightless_Bird/pseuds/Flightless_Bird
Summary: It’s Kevin’s first holiday in Night Vale and all he’d really like is someone to please keep him company.





	Company

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! Here is your yearly late holiday fic! As always a word in between /slashes/ is italicized, cuz my ipad sucks, and i will accept any and all comments and suggestions! I love love hearing from you and I hope that you’ll wann see more of these guys :D   
> Have a happy start to your new year!

Kevin shouldn't have come here.

It was becoming blatantly obvious. He knew that Steve had meant well when he'd invited Kevin to his holiday cookie baking competition or celebration or…whatever this was. But this was too much. Steve had told him that everybody would be here.

Everybody was not here.

There were plenty of Night Vale citizens, chatting in brightly colored sweaters over trays of cookies. There wasn't a single person who had originally been from Desert Bluffs.

Deb floated past him, talking loudly to her friend, and Kevin shrank back in the kitchen doorway. He had a mug in his hands, but it had been emptied a while ago. He wouldn't have minded another hot chocolate, and hell, he would've loved to have actually been /included/ in the decorating. Gazing hopefully in the direction of the counter, he took a step forward. One of the fathers at the table, placing sprinkles with his son, cast Kevin a distasteful look. Then he muttered something to his frowning husband next to him. Kevin deflated and fiddled with the handle of his mug again. /I should have known,/ he thought. /This is hopeless./ His eyes prickled and he bit the inside of his cheek. /I wish—/

“Kevin!”

He gasped, grabbing at his mug before he could drop it. Wide-eyed, he looked up to see Mayor Dana scurrying toward him. She was beaming with genuine happiness, glowing. Literally. Her bright yellow sweater with the six-headed reindeer print put off a radioactive light as she walked. It matched her white sheen of hair, and offered a pleasant difference to her dark skin. Kevin smiled a little. /She looks wonderful./ Then he hunched down into his hoodie guiltily.

“You came!” Dana skipped up to him, grey eyes twinkling. “Steve said he invited you, but he wasn't sure if you would show up or not. He mentioned you were kinda nervous.”

“Hey, Dana,” he greeted. “Yeah, I was. But I knew I needed to get out of the house, so…yeah. Plus there's cookies.”

“I'm so glad!” Then she struck a pose, hands on hips. “Like my sweater?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “It looks radioactive.”

“It is.”

“I might have known.”

“And what's this?” she asked, bouncing over to him. She took ahold of his sleeve and rubbed her thumb over it.

He glanced down at himself. “Oh, this? An old hoodie I found at a yard sale.” Turning, he showed the bright purple letters proclaiming TAKE DOWN STREX.

She barked a laugh. “I love it!”

He grinned and it was real. Her hand was no longer touching just his sleeve, but stroking up and down his arm, an unconscious gesture. They both realized at the same time; Dana stuck her hands in her pockets and Kevin adjusted his sleeves to forget the ghost of her touch.

The awkward moment was made painful when suddenly, someone passing through the doorway paused to point above Dana’s head. “Careful Mayor Cardinal, you're under the mistletoe,” they giggled, before flitting away into the party.

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Dana stammered, eyeing at the decoration above them as though it were a bomb.

/I had to stand in the damn doorway,/ Kevin thought, panicking a little as more eyes wandered their way. Someone whispered something about the mayor and the /Strexpet./ Dana was giving him this strange look and he wanted to crawl into a hole. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It's okay, don't worry about them,” she said, with her usual disregard for his mistreatment.

Relief washed through him and he smiled gratefully as she took his empty mug to place on the counter. “You know, Dana, it really means a lot that you—”

She kissed his cheek. Quickly. So fast, he thought he'd imagined it for a second.

Deb whispered, “oh. My. God.”

Dana stood very straight, as though she could brush off the weirdness with professionalism. 

Kevin just stared at her. “Uh.” He touched his cheek, dumbfounded.

“It was platonic!” Dana squeaked abruptly. Her face was flaming.

“Oh—Er—Yeah, of course! I knew that.” He glanced at the handful of Night Valians watching them.

“Yes, exactly, because we're just friends,” Dana put in with a nod.

“Just friends.”

“Just two friends under some mistletoe.”

“Yep, uh, friendly mistletoe.”

“Mmhm.”

It seemed to work. Most of the onlookers turned back to their cookies without comment. Only Deb kept sneaking looks over her now-empty can of sprinkles. Dana's shoulders fell a bit and she sighed. “Ugh, I'm so terrible.”

“No, no, it's really fine,” Kevin assured hurriedly. “I was surprised, that's all. I don't mind them.”

“Oh, good. That's good.” Dana gazed down at the floor.

The rest of the night was spent in the doorway, Dana keeping Kevin company while the rest of Night Vale ignored him. They talked and laughed and ate, and leaned their shoulders together every time they remembered the mistletoe above their heads.


End file.
